Bunny Day Tradition broken

Bunny Day will be a bit different this year. Kaylin decided to stay in Moncton as she has an online class to finish and also other studying to complete. So, we decided to take Bunny Day to her. 4 of us will head to Moncton today and take her out to lunch, then go to Crystal Palace, then visit friends, and then back for supper with Kaylin. Whew. It will be worth it. 

So instead of a Bunny Day hunt today, I'll just pass out bags of candy. And no pretty baskets either. The practical side of me won't let me spend too money on baskets that will just be tossed aside.

Counting the candy out for each bag.

Last birthday for a while

This week we celebrated our last March birthday. Josh turned 24. I know. How did that happen?

Gaëlle provided a bit of silliness. She made a card for Josh and put a sticker of a Sumo wrestler on the back.

She's telling us all why she made the card the way she did. Because Josh likes boxing and fighting and stuff. Well, you can't argue with that.

Josh asked for lasagna, caesar salad, and garlic bread.

More silliness as we all went around the table getting our photos taken.

Another sister.

Mom.

And Peter.

For his cake, he asked for New York style cheesecake with blueberry sauce. It was a big hit. Really tasty.

Family Celebration

Peter loves his meat and for his family birthday celebration, he went with an easy meal. Grilled hamburgers, chips, veggies and fruit.

Some of the spread.

Emily is eating vegetarian when possible so I made black bean burgers for her and I had one also. They were really good.

A special cross stitch hanging from his grandmother. He loves these. You can also see the hat from Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob. He loved that as well.

Opening cards.

Reading cards.

A swiss army knife from his sister. Love.

A big green monster puppet from his parents. Love.

His request was a chocolate cake with peanut butter cups. So we had them but not together.  All in all a successful birthday.

Look who is 12

Peter turns 12 today but he celebrated his birthday earlier this week with some friends. They started at our house with pizza.

Then they headed out to play Laser Tag. In between games they hung out at the arcade. I can remember when I was younger how much I loved spending my money at the arcade. Now it all seems like such a waste, but it was his birthday, so there you go.

They came back to the house for cake. Peter requested lemon meringue which turned out to be a big hit with all the kids.

Then it was time to open presents. 

And yes, Peter had a sleep over. So the boys then went downstairs and watched The Lord of the Rings movie until about midnight when Robin tried to quiet them down. Not an easy task with five 12 year olds.

The boys managed to wake up. Really, that wasn't a problem. They seemed ready and raring to go fairly early in the morning. Peter requested chocolate chip pancakes for his breakfast so that's what we had.

The boys all left before 11 AM so it was a very successful birthday. Peter was pleased with the entire event.

March Break Madness

The younger kids finally have their week of break. I also took the week off of work and even though we aren't going anyplace special, I have some activities I want to do with the kids. Last summer I bought The Story of the World as both kids are fairly week with their history. My sister surprised me with a book of famous figures that goes along with it. 

So we will do a little bit of ancient history each day this week.

The kids cut out the first figure and we read the first bit of the book.

Such a great and easy resource. Gaëlle kept saying, "This is just like school. But better."

Monday was also our service day. We made a huge batch of Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and then passed them out to local RCMP offices.

Peter stirred the batch of dough once and then he was finished. But you know Gaëlle stayed by my side for the entire process. She loves to help.

The batch makes 8 round pans of rolls and so while they were still warm we set out around HRM to deliver them. Well, we kept one pan for ourselves.

We made sure to deliver a pan to our local I&P office. Gaëlle was cute. At one office, the person we delivered them to was very appreciative and Gaëlle said, "You don't have to share them. You can keep them all yourself."

We ended up our afternoon at the waterfront. 

The wave has a fresh coat of paint on it. Once again, Peter made it to the top without a problem, but Gaëlle just couldn't quite make it.

At least she can climb on the anchors. All in all, it was a great first day of break. 

The birthdays roll on

Birthday month continued with the celebration of Emily's 22nd birthday. Crazy, but still true. Our little girl is growing up.

She also received a hat from her California relatives. Both girls will be in camping mode this summer, so this will be well used.

We broke out the Princess bag and the birthday cup once more. Fun times.

Emily is eating a more vegetarian/vegan if she can. So I made an almost vegan meal. We had Thai Yellow Curry Veggies with rice noodles. Then it was Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze. It was good but my chocolate chips were not vegan. 

Everybody getting their picture taken with the birthday girl.

2 of my princesses.

Kaylin was home for her March break so it was nice to be able to have her join the party.

Emily was in full study mode because she had a big test on Monday but she made time for a few rounds of Bananagrams. We love you Emily and are so excited to see all the amazing things you are doing with your life.

A very needy dog

Nothing too exciting to report but I just want to share how interesting Snickers has been lately. Close to a year ago, she started carrying around this stuffed animal. She has done that in the past but they usually don't last long before she has them ripped to pieces and we throw them out. This time is different. Snickers has been unusually gentle with her little friend. She always knows where it is, she greets us at the door with her little friend in tow, and she is not destroying it. It makes us laugh. Such a cute little dog.

The Birthday Month has begun

Well we missed Kaylin's 19th birthday because she was away at school, and working hard. But she was home this week and so the celebration began. Even though we had to talk her into using the birthday cup, we still managed to have a party.

The 2 biggest believers in the birthday cup. Go Mickey and the most magical place on earth. Gaëlle wants to meet you and not just drink from the cup.

I tried a new salad; a southwest quinoa salad. It was good but the recipe called for chilli lime pistachios.  I wouldn't even know where to begin to get those, but I'm sure they would have put the salad over the top. 

Brothers just hanging around and waiting for the food.

Kaylin and her new hat. Thanks Aunt Ruth. It will be perfect for the summer job. More on that later, I'm sure.

Birthday hug and kiss from dad.

Birthday hug from mom.

Kaylin asked for a cheesecake but not which kind. So I surprised her with a Snickers cheesecake. It was good. Every year that we celebrate the birthdays of the older kids, I'm just struck at the amazing young men and women they are becoming. Kaylin is working so hard at her dream of being a nurse and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. It has been a treat to have her home and to see her smile and listen to her laugh. We miss her but are thankful we can spend these moments together.